Beaver River

Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

November 1, 2022 by Noel Sherry 1 Comment

After achieving his railroad dream and completing his Nehasane wilderness refuge – reachable using his own luxury rail car – William Seward Webb found himself in a major conflict with the State of New York.

Inlet historian Charles Herr tells this part of the story expertly, in his history of the Fulton Chain. My map here highlights that land aquisition by the State in yellow, totaling 74,585 acres of Brown’s Tract and in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase. Webb retained ownership of lakes like Twitchell and Big Moose because he intended those for later cottage and hotel sales. [Read more…] about Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

October 31, 2022 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Hanging above a window in our Twitchell Lake cabin northeast of Big Moose, Herkimer County, in the Adirondacks is this five-foot-long saw with a handle at both ends, and a row of sharp knife-like teeth. I have never used it, but now know it is an antique crosscut saw for use by one or two persons. [Read more…] about William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

New Adirondack History Book About The Beaver River Country

September 25, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The book Beaver River Country: An Adirondack History (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2022) by Edward I. Pitts is a vivid history of this remote section of the western Adirondacks and its inhabitants. Encompassing the lands immediately surrounding the upper reaches of the Beaver River from its headwaters at Lake Lila to Beaver Lake at the settlement of Number Four, Beaver River country is one of the largest undisturbed tracts of forest in the entire northeastern United States. [Read more…] about New Adirondack History Book About The Beaver River Country

An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

My uncle Frank Sherry taught my brother Tom and I orienteering, using a map and compass to navigate through the woods and find a remote pond or other location. We were teenagers and it was an exciting way to spend a Saturday.

On one of these adventures we were in search of Silver Dollar Pond to the east of Twitchell Lake in Northern Herkimer County,when we stumbled on our first lumber camp. The telltale signs were pieces of metal hanging from a tree and protruding from the ground, with old bottles half-buried in the forest floor. We made note of the location on our map, a half-mile from Twitchell, and returned to explore it. It wasn’t long before we located the camp dump, from which we dug up the items pictured here.

These and other objects triggered an active discussion on the date of this old camp, with an imaginative re-creation of what life might have been like for a lumberjacks living and working there. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

One of the most satisfying pastimes for me at our summer home on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose in the Adirondacks in Northern Herkimer County), was taking the camp guide boat out for a spin. That privilege was earned by passing the family test, a solo swim across the lake, about the distance of a football field.

Weighing just over 30 pounds, this unique 14-foot wooden craft sped through the water powered by two oars. A cabin shelf still displays several awards for winning the annual guide boat race. I fondly remember the one-mile hikes to neighboring Oswego Pond, trailing my older brother Burt carrying that guide boat on his shoulders using a hand-carved yoke, my father in the lead bearing the oars and fishing gear. [Read more…] about Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

May 2, 2022 by Noel Sherry 6 Comments

In the nineteenth century Lewis County settlements east of the Black River were just getting established; most of these included at least one saw mill. By 1820 these settlements were beginning to push their way up the rivers into the Adirondacks, and new mills were being built along their courses. A Copenhagen, NY farmer on Tug Hill, viewing the Adirondack panorama spread out to his east, wrote the following in a Journal & Republican article titled “North Woods Wonder:”

“All the wilderness is strewn with lakes as if some great mirror had been shattered by an Almighty hand, and scattered through the forests for Nature to make her toilet by … And how the rivers meander the woods as the veins of a human hand. There are Beaver, Moose, and Indian, Bog, Grass and Racket… And how rough and shaggy the wilderness is with mountains … Let them pass unnamed.”

One of these “shattered” gems was Twitchell Lake. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

The Great North Woods Before Logging: Twitchell Lake’s Virgin Timber

April 28, 2022 by Noel Sherry 9 Comments

One of the best memories I carry from my vacations at our camp on Twitchell Lake in Herkimer County in the Adirondacks is the white pine that marks the western border of our lake-shore property. It’s massive base peaks with twin tops that tower above all the other trees on our shoreline. Peering up into its heights ignited my boyhood imagination, picturing myself atop the Crow’s Nest of some fast clipper ship, scouting for pirates.

There have been several hurricanes and microbursts that have wreaked havoc with the four plus miles of our lake’s shoreline, but my white pine stands firm still, its roots anchored deep in the ancient glacial fill. Even to this day, my brother Tom and I muse about an observation tower roped between those twin tops where we are poised, binoculars in hand, eye-to-eye with the bald eagles that visit the lake, and the loons that daily jet by. This giant stands well over 150 feet tall. [Read more…] about The Great North Woods Before Logging: Twitchell Lake’s Virgin Timber

Big Moose Tract Conservation Easement Management Comments Sought

February 19, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking public input on the development of a draft Recreation Management Plan (RMP) for the Big Moose Tract Conservation Easement in the town of Webb, Herkimer County. [Read more…] about Big Moose Tract Conservation Easement Management Comments Sought

An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career

January 14, 2021 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

Frank Tweedy’s four-years of Adirondack surveying under Verplanck Colvin prepared him for a 43-year career as Topographical Engineer with the US Geological Survey (1884-1927).

After completing his survey of the Beaver River Basin and the Totten & Crossfield Purchase’s western line (1876-79), Frank served as Sanitary Engineer in Newport, R. I. (1880-81) before signing on with the Northern Transcontinental Survey based in Newport (1882-83). His contributions to mapping the Rocky Mountains stand as a big part of his legacy. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career

An Adirondack Surveyor’s Basecamp At Twitchell Lake

January 7, 2021 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

As Frank Tweedy approached the end of his four-year stint with forest surveyor Squire Snell on Verplanck Colvin’s Adirondack Survey, Southwest Division, he was no longer a tenderfoot, but a veteran surveyor and topographer, with many miles of survey work in the Beaver River basin and six expertly drawn maps to his credit.

His southern trek to finish the Totten and Crossfield Tract boundary line necessitated a new base camp well south of Beaver River. Twitchell Lake in Big Moose was the perfect location. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Surveyor’s Basecamp At Twitchell Lake